Audible error - "System Failed CPU Test"

[EMPshockwave82]

My computer woke me up this morning at 4AM by repeating "System Failed CPU Test" (repeat once, sometimes twice) through the speakers. Reset computer and went back to sleep. This morning at 6:45 when I woke up to get ready for work I got on to check the weather and it did it again. Just shut down computer and walked away because I didnt have time to F with it yet.

Please, any troubleshooting tips you can give me would be very helpful. I have a laptop so I'll be able to check the forums still while at home.

EDIT:

This is occuring while I am inside windows (which means everythign seems to be running fine). There are no errors and the computer is still functional. It just speaks to me.

System was built in 2004 and has been working wonderfully ever since. Very few minor errors that were fixed very quickly and easily. NO CHANGES have been made to the computer in the past month. The last change that took place was a normal format to clean it off.

More info - comptuer is one that I built. Asus A7N8XE-Deluxe mobo, AMD Athlon xp 2800+ CPU.

Yes the system was overclocked from 333fsb to 400fsb.



Some possibilities i've found from searching: (other than those suggested here)

Bad PSU

Need to reseat RAM and / or Graphics card (i dont see how this could be it but whatever)

 

[Zolty]

Just a guess here, I am going to say that your system failed and it might have something to do with the CPU. If you bought it, and it's under warrenty then call dell, if you put it together then test the cpu in another motherboard, if that works it's probably the motherboard.

 

[chefazn]

Are you overclocking? Try turning it back to default to see if problem persists.

 

[EMPshockwave82]

Originally posted by: Zolty
Just a guess here, I am going to say that your system failed and it might have something to do with the CPU. If you bought it, and it's under warrenty then call dell, if you put it together then test the cpu in another motherboard, if that works it's probably the motherboard.

nothing under warranty anymore. built winter of 2004. no extra motherboards or processors laying around to help test

 

[EMPshockwave82]

Originally posted by: chefazn
Are you overclocking? Try turning it back to default to see if problem persists.

minimal overclocking to make the 2800+ have 400FSB instead of 333 FSB. basically i made it a 2.09Ghz instead of 2.08Ghz. Did not mess with any other settings.

Will revert back when i get home. At work til 4.

 

[Atheus]

Heat? Clean the dust out of the case and start it up with the side off so you can see if the fans are running.

 

[EMPshockwave82]

Originally posted by: Atheus
Heat? Clean the dust out of the case and start it up with the side off so you can see if the fans are running.

dust was just cleaned out less than 1 month ago... will check fans - thanks

 

[amdskip]

Check the motherboard and see if you have any bulging/leaking capacitors.

 

[EMPshockwave82]

Originally posted by: amdskip
Check the motherboard and see if you have any bulging/leaking capacitors.

will do..thanks

 

[Tanner]

hrmhmmmm thinking...

 

[Fern]

Since it's a '04 build you should be able motherboard monitor 5 working on it.

It's been a while since I used it, but you can set a log that shows the monitoring of temps, fan RPM, voltages etc. After the problem, go into the log and check those out.

Anyhoo, I'm thinking heat (dustbunny in cpu HS), fan prob on cpu HS, or PSU (voltage fluc).

Fern

 

[LouPoir]

Classic Asus motherboard problem - more than likely, a bad motherboard. Reset the Bios to defaults and try it again.